Billy Darley Oneshot 4, A Good Boy
by undeadstoryteller
Summary: Death Sentence Oneshot featuring Billy Darley, age 21. Backstory. This one focuses on family. T for language.


_A version of this was originally going to be part of the next chapter on "New Blood," but I converted it into a oneshot because I felt like the scene distracted from the focus of that story. This is the first one that Joe's been a part of. Hope you like it.  
_

--

Billy was sitting on the couch, conscious of the fact that he was asleep. It was the best feeling in the world. There was no pain or anxiety, no watching his back or explaining himself to anybody. If he could do one thing for the rest of his life, it was sleep.

_crack... _

_THUD._

Billy opened his eyes. _Fuck_. He felt the sleep drain away, and he immediately felt sore and cold. He sniffed and looked around, then leaned back and closed his eyes again.

A few moments later, there was another cracking sound on the window, like someone was throwing rocks at it. There was muffled sound of a woman hollering.

"Jesus," Billy said, getting up. He walked over to the window, and looked out. A story below, a thin red-headed woman, 40 or so, was having a fit. It was Eileen.

Eileen was one of Bones's exes. She was also the mother of his fifteen year old half-brother, Joe. He didn't have time for this.

He pushed open the window.

Eileen's voice became clear. "Where is he?" she hollered. "Where's Joey?"

Billy leaned out the window. "How the fuck would I know where he is?" he yelled.

"I know he's in there, Billy! You tell him to march is ass down here right now!"

"He ain't here!"

He watched as Eileen, hair flying, ran to the door and started banging on it furiously. The bitch was crazy. Bones liked them crazy - batshit crazy. His own mother, what he remembered of her, was at least as bad.

Billy rubbed his head. He did not need this. He went out and downstairs, and jerked the door open.

"Look - "

Eileen bolted past him, up the stairs and into the apartment. "I will tear every inch of this place apart, Joey!" She was crying near hysterically.

Billy followed her in, and shut the door. "Come on in," he said flatly. "I told you, Eileen, he ain't here. Tear the place apart if you want to."

Eileen turned to Billy, and her eyes grew wide. "What happened to your face, Billy?" She asked, touching his cheek. She was showing genuine concern, one thing he liked about her. "You look like you been to Hell and back."

"It was just a little fight."

Eileen's posture hardened. "See?" she said. "This is what I'm talking about, Billy! This is what I'm saying! And Joey looks up to you! You know that?"

Actually, Billy didn't know that. The intense hatred Eileen had developed for Bones had kept Joe at a distance, for the most part. Bones demanded to see him, so Billy did too, but he was just a kid. Billy was grown, and hung out with grown-ups. Joe was like... a little mosquito that wouldn't go away, when he was around.

"He listens to you," Eileen said. She blew her nose on a ratty tissue she'd pulled out of the pocket of her jeans. "Tell him he's throwing his life away. Tell him he can't drop out..." She turned from Billy to the otherwise empty room. "You can't drop out!" She screamed.

"I told you," Billy said, "Joey ain't here."

"Just tell him he's throwing his life away," she sniffled. "He'll listen to you."

Now, one of the best days of Billy's life had been his 16th birthday, the day the State could no longer require him to go to school.

"_I _dropped out," he said. "Why would I tell him not to?"

"Because you know," she sobbed. "Joey's a good boy. He gets B's, you know. And some C's. He could get into Tech. He could, Billy! It was different for you, you had a baby, bless her soul." She crossed herself, and lit a cigarette.

"She's not _dead_, Eileen," Billy said.

"Bless her anyway," Eileen said, blotting her eyes.

_Batshit crazy_, Billy thought.

"I swear to you," Billy said. "I swear to God, I haven't seen Joey in weeks."

Eileen blinked at him. "You swear to God?" Eileen was the kind of woman who that really meant something to. But he _was_ telling the truth.

"I swear to God," Billy said. "If he comes around, I'll tell him to go home and go to Tech." He would, too. The last thing Billy needed was a kid around, with all that was on his mind.

Eileen sniffed and shook her head. "Well, then, where the hell is he?"

Billy shrugged. "At least he's not here."

She looked around the room. "Yeah," she said. "That's good." She looked at Billy again, with that look of concern. "You need to stop fighting. Stop being such a hood - look at you. You'll wind up like your father."

"You're the one who picked him," he said.

"Well, he should be in prison, plain and simple." She said. "But Joey's different. Promise me you'll look out for him. Promise me you won't let him fall in with those... criminals."

"Joey's gonna do what he wants to do."

"Billy, you're his big brother. He looks up to you."

Billy sighed, and rubbed his temple. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep. "I promise. OK?"

"Good, Billy," she said. "Good." She sniffed. "When he comes around, tell him to come home, OK? I'm worried sick."

Joe never did show up on Billy's doorstep. He'd run to his girlfriend's house for a few days, just to piss his mother off.

_Looks up to me, my ass_, Billy thought, when Eileen gave him the news.


End file.
